Alexander Szymanowski (; born 13 October 1988) is an Argentine professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for Spanish club SS Reyes. Raised in Spain, he spent most of his career there, totalling 42 games and 10 goals for

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popu ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

, and 82 appearances and 22 goals in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

for that club and Recreativo. He also had a spell in Denmark with Brøndby, and suffered two-and-a-half seasons of injuries later in his career.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Szymanowski moved to

Guadarrama Guadarrama is a town and municipality in the Cuenca del Guadarrama comarca, in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Its population is 17,063 according to the Continuous Register of 2023; the population swells to approximately 60,000 in summer. In th ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in November 2000, at the age of 12. After four months on trial at

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, he subsequently represented

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

AD Unión Adarve Agrupación Deportiva Unión Adarve is a Spanish football team, from the Barrio del Pilar district of Fuencarral-El Pardo, in the city of Madrid, Community of Madrid. Founded in 1961, they play in . History Unión Adarve resulted from a merger ...

CF Rayo Majadahonda Club de Fútbol Rayo Majadahonda () is a Spanish professional football club in Majadahonda, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1976 it plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio Cerro del Espino'', with a capacity of 3,800 seats. ...

, CA Leones de Castilla and

Alcobendas CF Alcobendas Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football club based in Alcobendas, in the Community of Madrid. Founded in 1970, it plays in ''Preferente de Aficionados – Group 1'', holding home games at ''Valdelasfuentes'', which has a capacity of 1, ...

as a youth. Szymanowski made his senior debuts with

UD San Sebastián de los Reyes Unión Deportiva San Sebastián de los Reyes, also known as Sanse is a Spanish football team based in San Sebastián de los Reyes, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1971 it plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadio Nuevo Mat ...

in the 2007–08 campaign, suffering relegation from

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

. In the 2009 summer he moved to

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

side

Antequera CF Antequera Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Antequera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1992, it currently plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio El Maulí'', with a capacity of 6,000 seats. History Ante ...

, appearing regularly and subsequently returning to his previous club in the following year. In July 2011 Szymanowski moved to

RSD Alcalá Real Sociedad Deportiva Alcalá is a Spanish football team based in Alcalá de Henares in the Community of Madrid. Founded in 1929 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 7, holding home matches at ''Estadio Municipal del Val'', with a capac ...

in the third tier. He finished the season with 38 appearances and 11 goals, being the club's top goalscorer.

Recreativo

On 11 July 2012, Szymanowski signed a three-year contract with

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home ...

. After being nearly left out of the squad due to not having an EU passport, he played his first match as a professional on 25 August, starting in a 1–0 home win against

CD Mirandés Club Deportivo Mirandés is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Miranda de Ebro, Province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 3 May 1927, the club competes in the Segunda División ...

. On 14 October Szymanowski scored his first professional goal, netting the last in a 2–5 away loss against

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

. On 26 May 2013, he scored a brace in a 2–1 home win against

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Córdoba, Andalusia, Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1954 after the dissolution of RCD Córdoba. Currently it plays ...

, and contributed with 38 appearances and 10 goals during his first campaign, with his side narrowly avoiding relegation.

Brøndby

On 29 August 2013, Szymanowski signed a one-year loan contract with

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a Danish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Brøndbyvester. Brøndby IF denotes the professional football section of Brøndbyernes ...

with a €2 million buyout clause. On 15 September he made his debut, in a 2–1 home win over

Odense Boldklub Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city of Odense, in southern Denmark. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play ...

. Late in the month, Szymanowski scored his first two goals abroad, in a 3–2 win over

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen (, ), commonly known as F.C. København, F.C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen, or simply FCK, is a Danish professional football club based in Copenhagen. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on top of Kjøbenhavns Boldklu ...

, being also named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

. On 10 January 2014, Brøndby activated the buyout clause in Szymanowski's contract, who signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the Danish side. On 27 July of the following year he was released.

Leganés

In July 2015, Szymanowski signed a two-year deal with

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid. They currently compete in La Liga, the first tier of the Spanish league system. Leganés was officially founded 23 June 1928 and played thei ...

in the second tier. He was an undisputed starter for the

side during the season, scoring a career-best 12 goals to help his side promote to

for the first time ever. Szymanowski made his debut in the main category of Spanish football on 27 August 2016, starting in a 0–0 home draw against

. He scored his first goal in the division on 25 September, but in a 1–2 home loss against

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

. On 20 July 2020, Szymanowski left Leganés after struggling severely with injuries during his last two seasons at the club.

Later career

On 5 October 2020, transfer deadline day, Szymanowski returned to Recreativo, now in the third tier. He was one of two players sent off in a 3–1 loss at

Algeciras CF Algeciras Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Algeciras, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1909 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home matches at '' Estadio Nuevo Mirador''. History Foo ...

the following 24 January, and the season ended with an unprecedented double relegation to the fifth tier following a restructuring of the

Spanish football league system The Spanish football league system consists of several professional, semi-professional, amateur and non-professional leagues bound together hierarchically by promotion and relegation. The top two tiers of the male league pyramid — Primera Di ...

. Szymanowski joined

Gimnástica Segoviana CF Gimnástica Segoviana Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Segovia, the capital of the namesake province, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1928 as ''Sociedad Deportiva Gimnástica Segoviana'', it plays ...

of the new Segunda División RFEF on 6 August 2021. In September 2022, Szymanowski joined Italian

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

club Vibonese. After one season, he returned to Spain to sign with

Segunda Federación Segunda Federación, previously called Segunda RFEF, also officially known as Segunda B, is the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system containing 90 teams divided into five groups. It is administered by the Royal Spanish Football Fede ...

club Talavera.

Personal life

Born in Argentina, Szymanowski is Polish, Belarusian, Spanish and Italian descent. His paternal grandfather was a Pole born in 1923 in what was then Poland, but has since been transferred to Ukraine, who moved at the age of five to Argentina and married a Belarusian woman. Szymanowski's maternal grandfather's parents were Spanish (from

Toro Toro may refer to: Places *Toro, Molise, a ''comune'' in the Province of Campobasso, Italy *Toro, Nigeria, a Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Nigeria *Toro, Shizuoka, an archaeological site in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan *Toro, Zamora, a ''m ...

Province of Zamora Zamora () is a Provinces of Spain, province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Province of Ourense, Ourense, Province of Le� ...

) and his maternal grandmother's parents were Italian. He also holds Spanish citizenship, his full name in that document being Alexander Szymanowski Alonso. Szymanowski's sister, Marianela, is also a footballer who has played in the Primera División and for Argentina's women's team. After he scored his first double in Primera in an important 4–0 win over Betis in May 2017, they embraced each other in

Butarque Butarque is an administrative neighborhood (''barrio'') of Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area ...

's stands.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Segunda División Player of the Month The Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best Segunda División player for each month of the season. Winners Multiple winners The following table lists the number of awards won by players who have won at leas ...

: January 2016 Alex Szymanowski named Liga Adelante Player of the Month for January
LaLiga.es, 4 February 2016

References

Notes Citations

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Szymanowski, Alexander 1988 births Living people Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine people of Polish descent Argentine people of Belarusian descent Argentine sportspeople of Spanish descent Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Argentine men's footballers Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Serie D players Segunda Federación players UD San Sebastián de los Reyes players Antequera CF footballers RSD Alcalá players Recreativo de Huelva players CD Leganés players Gimnástica Segoviana CF footballers Danish Superliga players Brøndby IF players US Vibonese Calcio players CF Talavera de la Reina players Argentine emigrants to Spain Naturalised citizens of Spain Argentine expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 21st-century Argentine sportsmen Spanish people of Argentine descent Sportspeople of Argentine descent Spanish people of Polish descent Spanish people of Belarusian descent Spanish people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent Spanish men's footballers 21st-century Spanish sportsmen